Coffin.



NITED STATES JACOB IVITTIG, OF MARINETTE, WISCONSIN.

' COFFIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 636,374, dated November '7, 1899. Application filed September 8, 1899. Serial No. 729,834. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB WITTIG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marinette, in the county of Marinette and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coffins, of which the fOllOWl] g is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to coffins, caskets,

and body-carriers; and the object of my invention is to provide a coffin or body-carrier made in two or more lengths hinged together to facilitate carrying dead bodies from hospitals, hotels, or private houses, (in which narrow passage-ways are often found.) Said carrier is adapted to take a body thus inclosed in a rigid covering through a narrow door of a bed-room possibly into a narrow or crooked hallway, the parts of said rigid covering being also adapted to be easily kept united end to end for transportation as an ordinary coffin or casket. I attain these objects by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a coffin or body-carrier constructed in accordance with myinvention, the two lengths being shown partly folded upon each other, but with the head-cover removed. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the same coffin or bodyand 2.

carrier closed and resting upon trestles.

In said drawings,'A represents the headsection, and B the foot-section. Said sections are united together by means of hinges 0, having their leaves secured to the inner faces of the bottoms a and b of said sections. The width of the front edge of the foot-section B corresponds with the width of the interior of the head-section, so that the parts can be made to assume the position shown in Figs. 1 The head-section can even be made to assume a position at right angles to that of the foot-section. Each section is provided with handles d, secured to their sides, and

the first section B is provided with casters 6,

preferably ball-bearing, upon which a body placed into the carrier can be easily rolled to and through a door-opening or other narrow passage.

The cover of the coffin or body-carrier is made in three sections F G H. The footcover H is preferably longer than either one of the other two sections. The middle section G has its rear edge permanently secured to the foot-cover by means of hinges g and is so located as to straddle the joint formed by the front edge of the front section of the coffin and the rear edge of its head-section, and as said parts of the cover are secured to the upper edge of the coffin by thumb-screws 7c the body of the carrier becomes nearly as rigid as if made of one length of material, and its ends can be made to rest securely upon trestles T, as shown in Fig. 3. When the head-cover F is secured to the head-section of the coffin by thumb-screws 7i; and its rear edge abuts against the front edge of the middle section G, it further helps to relieve the thumb-screws of the middle section from strain.

For the purpose of obtaining rigidity of connection between the sections A and B slid ing bolts m may be secured to the front edge of the first section and bolt-keepers n to the rear edge of the head-section, and hooks or other well-known fastenings may also be used for the same purpose.

This coffin or body-carrier can be made of wood, of metal, or of other suitable material, and its sides can be made square or tapering, the main feature being the bottom made in sections hinged together at their ends to shorten its length when desired.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim 1. A coifin or body-carrier consisting of hollow sections cut transversely and having the bottom of each one hinged to the other, substantially as described.

2. In a coffin the combination of a headsection, a foot-section having its front edge narrower than the rear edge of the head-section, and hinges uniting the bottom of said sections, substantially as described.

3. In a coffin, the combination of a headsection, a foot-section having its frontedge adapted to be lapped by the head-section, hinges uniting the bottom of said sections, and a cover made in sections, one of which is adapted, to overlap a portion of the upper edge of both the head-section and the footsection, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JACOB wrrrrc.

Witnesses:

L. K. MAO NEILL, LILLIAN LE ROY. 

